Moonlight River
by Soulfull Ishida
Summary: Daisuke has some second thoughts about the Kaiser when he sees him crying by a river...


Moonlight River  
  
This is something I just wrote up in about five minutes. . . he he? Sorry, I was just terribly bored, and rather drained (rewriting The Next DigiDestined in order to include some cool plot bunnies takes a lot out of ya), and AOL was temporarily not working. ^_^. . . .So, here's a Daiken, just for the poo of it! (If it seems rather more depressing and fluffy than usual, don't worry. . . I was listening to Sarah McLachlin when I wrote it).  
  
Disclaimer: I don't own Digimon. It belongs to Bandai, Saban, Toei, and Fox Kids. Sorry, folks!  
  
*~*~*~*~* Ken is beautiful.  
  
There's just no denying it, Ken is the most beautiful, graceful, broken, intriguing person I have ever met. Even his cold rages and tears seem to glisten with the light of the moon.  
  
We were sitting on a rock near a river in the Digital World, just the two of us. Ken found out that if you feed Digimon too much chocolate, they get incredibly sleepy. After they drifted off into la-la land, we snuck out here. This was where we first met, me the brave, gung-ho leader of the DigiDestined, him the evil, sadistic Digimon Kaiser.  
  
*~*~*  
  
I was walking along the path near this river one night, being bothered by a case of insomnia. The moon was shining on the river, causing the entire field to almost dim in jealousy. All was silent- you would never suspect the evil things that were happening because of one poor, lost soul without a place to call home. I decided to sit down on a rather large rock on the river bed and watch the water flow, thinking that it would make me tired enough to go to sleep.  
  
Fate, it seemed, had other plans.  
  
While I was sitting there, I could see a figure moving along the edge of the forest, heading towards the edge of the river very slowly and carefully, like if it made the wrong move, the entire forest might get pissed off and swallow it up. I quickly jumped off the rock and hid behind it, in case it was an evil Digimon. Smart, Daisuke! Let's just leave home without a single form of protection and head to the middle of the forest! However, although my mind was yelling at me to run, my heart kept me in place, watching this figure move. It seemed so. . . sad.  
  
The creature was swaying while it walked, unable to keep walking straight. You could hear it sobbing, a heart-wrenching sound. It reached the edge of the river and fell to its knees, a horrible wreck. The river moved slightly as it picked up a clump of mud and threw it into the center of the water, and the moonlight reflected onto its face for just an instant, allowing me to recognize whom it was.  
  
The Digimon Kaiser!  
  
My mind was now screaming at me, telling me that if I didn't get up, he could find me. But, like before, my heart made me stay put. It's not everyday you see the great and horrible Kaiser on his knees in the mud. He was definitely crying for a reason, and I wanted to see what it was.  
  
"Why did I do this?" Ken screamed, gripping and pulling at his hair as if he wanted to tear his head open. "How COULD I have done that? Ryou.Osamu.God, I'm a monster!" He fell forward, curled up, shaking with suppressed sobs that could only be hidden from the world for so long. The water kept lapping at him, but he didn't seem to care. The moon seemed to avoid shining on him, leaving him dark and cold, surrounded by the light. I wondered if that was how he felt inside.  
  
My feet made me stand up and walk over to him, as if I should- could- do anything to help the poor broken boy. When he saw my shadow fall over him, he sat up, trying to regain his royal and menacing composure that made him the Kaiser.  
  
"What do you want, Destined?" he said, voice cracking, eyes bloodshot. I almost began to cry when I saw him, this close, trying to ply a role he was never meant to play. Ken was so weak and fragile inside, and the Kaiser. . . a pathetic mask that barely shielded him from being hurt. At that moment, when I looked at his bloodshot, blue-violet eyes, with no light reflecting in them, I understood why Ken did what he did.  
  
He wanted to be strong. He wanted to be strong, terrible, respected and feared, instead of being weak. It didn't work though, all his vain attempts didn't work, and he ended up weaker and more pathetic than ever before. I pitied him.  
  
"I understand, Ken," I said, barely audible above the splashing of the water. He stood up, a good two inches taller than me, and yet he seemed smaller than ever. His jumpsuit was covered in mud, his face was soaked from tears and water, and his hair was coming out of its spikes to frame his tired face.  
  
"You don't understand anything, Motomiya! You don't understand what it's like to live this life. . .to feel this pain. . ." I reached over and did something neither of us expected. I hugged him tightly, pushing his head down on my shoulder. He struggled to get away for a total of three seconds, then relaxed, all his energy drained, and almost fell onto me.  
  
"It hurts, Daisuke. It hurts so much. . ." he whispered into my shoulder, gripping me tightly, as if he let go, I would vanish.  
  
"I know it does, Ken. Just let it all out. Just cry."  
  
*~*~*  
  
"Daisuke? Dai-kun, are you alive in there? You've been awfully still," I could hear Ken say quietly, startling me out of my memory.  
  
"Yeah, Ken-chan, I'm fine. Just. . .remembering."  
  
"Oh," he said, gazing back at the water. "Remembering what?"  
  
I looked at him then, realizing how much he must still hurt. Carrying all that guilt, pain, and knowing that he ENJOYED it all, every last bit of it. He must wonder why I chose such an imperfect being like him to love.  
  
The truth is, I chose him because I knew that deep down inside, what happened to him could happen to me, or Iori, or even Hikari. I wanted him to understand that it was all right to feel guilty, but someday he would have to put it behind him and carry on. I didn't know how to tell him all this, and I didn't want him to be reminded of what happened that night at the river. So, I said the only thing that made sense then.  
  
"Ai shiteru, Ken-chan."  
  
His head shot up, and he stared at me with such a sad intensity. Then he dropped the mask, and whispered back to me, his voice, like mine had been, barely audible above the waves.  
  
"Ai shiteru, Daisuke."  
  
*~*~Fin*~* 


End file.
